A personal blog about quilting, sewing and life as a mother. Lots of free tutorials including beginning quilting tutorials, binding tutorials, and other sewing projects like bags, quilt blocks and nursing covers.

Modern Quilt for a Sister

I can finally share the project I’ve been working on most of December. This was a surprise for my sister for Christmas and since she’s been known to lurk around this blog from time to time, I didn’t want to tip my hand in any way. And it worked. She was totally surprised and, I think, happy.

And well she should be. I only promised to make a quilt for her almost 2 years ago. We picked a bunch of the fabrics on this trip to Carmel in Feb of 2009. She has been very patient while other projects have been finished, but hers had languished in a pile of scraps under my cutting table. (Although she hasn’t been totally neglected – I did make this sunshine-y quilt for her toddler last winter.)

The pieced back. I was wishing I had more of that big print (and frankly – I thought we bought more on that trip but it is no where to be found.) So I wanted to frame it on the back. I used up the rest of the remnants from the City Girl collection as well.

The craziest part of finishing this quilt is that I actually quilted it myself. In case you haven’t figured this out already, I feel like the quilting part is my weakness when it comes to finishing a quilt. Usually I take my quilts to the lovely ladies where I work and they do a beautiful job for a very lovely price. But this time I was determined to do it myself. (I’ve been practicing more lately on the Halloween quilt and the Robot quilt.)

Because I have never attempted anything bigger than a baby quilt on my own machine (and I HEARTILY salute all of you who work magic with you machines on giant quilts!) I took this one to quilt on the long-arm machine. I am scared of free-motion quilting (actually, I’ve done it, but I think my FMQ skills are so stinky) so I went with the straight line look. I was terrified of ruining the quilt and by the time I was finishing the machine and I were practically in a rumble, but by the time I bound the quilt and washed it, I was pretty dang pleased. In fact – I kind of love how the quilting looks in the solid brown on the back. I’m tempted to try it again. One day. When I can make peace with that machine again.

I took these pictures on Christmas Day afternoon (sunny, no snow and in my shirt sleeves while my boys were running around in the driveway wearing ninja masks and head lamps that they got for Christmas) minutes after it came out of the dryer and before my extended family was going to show up at our house for a party. Whew!

The weather today couldn’t be more different: cold, wind, and SNOW. I have finally reached the point in my life where I could officially live with out snow.

Computer update: I am still limping a long a bit. RIP old computer. We got something new (yay!), but I don’t have any of my files. Hopefully today we can restore our old files to our new machine and I will be up and running at full speed again next week. Fingers crossed!

Amy, this is absolutely beautiful. I have been wanting to do a quilt for our bedroom, but haven&#39;t really seen just the right colors. This, however, is PERFECT and is just what I have been searching for. I love the colors, the pattern and YOUR quilting. Gorgeous!

I truly appreciate your honesty in the post. As a new quilter I am completely intimidated by the quilting aspect of this craft and I&#39;m glad to hear that it can rattle the nerves of such an accomplished quilter! <br />This is really stunning! Your sister is very lucky!

That turned out beautiful!! I did the same thing to my mom. I promised her a quilt over a year ago so I finally bit the bullet and just made her one for Christmas as a surprise. It feels good to have it checked off the list too

This is gorgeous! And the quilting is fantastic. I actually think straight line quilting is much harder that FMQ. Especially on a large quilt. I thought it would be easier until I did it and I couldn&#39;t believe how much more I wrestled with the quilt doing straight lines! You did a wonderful job and remember, the more you quilt, the easier it gets!

I have a quilt made from that same line of fabric. It&#39;s always fun to see the same fabrics used in different ways, and I haven&#39;t seen City Girls stuff in awhile. I bet your sis loved the quilt – who wouldn&#39;t??

Yet another winner! And what a thoughtful gift for your sister. I don&#39;t know about you, but when I am making something to give, I spend alot of time thinking about that person, good memories etc.<br />I think the back looks wonderful, and I&#39;m just catching on the the pieced back, I mean how many fabrics are there THAT WIDE?<br />And snow and cold? I tell my husband, WHY DO YOU THINK

I love everything about this quilt! Just gorgeous! Good to hear you&#39;ve gotten a replacement computer… I still have old files trapped in my old computer because I&#39;ve been too lazy to retrieve them! Hehe!

Oh how I love this quilt! The pattern and the colors. It looks very similar to one I did for my daughter. Which I also put on the back burner to complete quilts for others. I used the Squared Squares pattern. Did you use a pattern for this? Please share the pattern name if you did.<br />You did a wonderful job and I am sure your sister was very pleased!

That is a spectacular quilt, Amy! And your quilting is lovely. But you can get over fear of FMQ – start by doing it on potholders or table runners – and relax, breath and have fun with it! The more you practice, the better you will get.

It is beautiful and of course your sister loved it! I too am afraid of each next step in my quilt – afraid I am going to ruin the already good quilt with whatever I do to it next. But usually I don&#39;t ruin it. Your quilting looks wonderful.

stunning quilt. I don&#39;t quilt (well, yet anyway) as I found that most quilts I saw were ugly in my opinion (the colors were just wrong) so I never wanted to quilt but this quilt is amazing, very inspiring, makes me want to quilt…thank you for the beautiful work.

Amy, this quilt is beautiful. WOW. I have only hand stitched the few small quilts I&#39;ve made and the thought of doing it on the machine scares me~ I might give it a try now that you&#39;ve encouraged me. Thanks and keep up the beautiful work!

This quilt is totally fabulous!!!!! I love love love those fabrics and you did an amazing job on your quilting!!! I share your feelings on the subject, by the way I am sure your sister loves her quilt and is happy that you quilted it yourself.

Hi Amy! I&#39;d like to use this quilt as my inspiration for my month in the &quot;Inspire&quot; circle of the do. Good Stitches bee on Flickr (for a Project Linus quilt). I just wanted to get your permission to use it, and to link to your photos on Flickr. Is that okay with you? <br /><br />Thanks,<br />Evelyn

Check Out My

The Perfect Place To Start

Categories

Social

Instagram

Contributing

Looking for Something?

My Patterns

This blog accepts paid advertising and uses affiliate links.

All reviews are my own opinions and I write all my own posts unless specifically clarified.

Copyright 2008-2013 Amy Smart/DiaryofaQuilter.com. All photos and content are my own unless otherwise noted. I love when people link to or pin my content, only please cite the original post. Please do not reproduce or publish copies of my patterns and tutorials. Contact me with any questions or concerns. Thank you!